A Little Bit Of Christmas Cheer
by The-Lady-Smaell
Summary: It's the most magical time of the year... And Tony Stark is screwed. Can he avert a Christmas disaster? With Bruce's help perhaps he can and possibly give his Science-Bro an unexpected gift of his own. *Fear the WAFF you have been warned*


A/N: I don't generally do Christmassy stuff because well I generally can't think of any ideas that aren't sickeningly fluffy *Insert bleurgh here* or are clichéd to hell... But for some reason this would _not _leave me alone. God damn Science Bro's getting under my skin.

Disclaimer: They are not mine... And that is probably a good thing. XD

Warnings: Um... Unbeta'd so there are probably mistakes, A bit of swearing courtesy of Mr. Stark, Nauseating sappy warm and fluffy feelings, Probable OOCness (But that is up to you)

A Little Bit Of Christmas Cheer.

Tony Stark was not impressed.

In fact if he was being totally honest he was _seriously fucking pissed off _but at this precise moment indulging in those particular emotions would be entirely counter-productive to the cause no matter how much the douche-bag on the end of the line deserved his wrath. That and Pepper would probably castrate him if he had yet another liable suit filed against him and he rather liked his manly bits where they were thank you very much.

So in the calmest voice he could muster he ground the words out down the phone.

"What do you mean you haven't got anyone?"

There was a flurry of chatter from the other end of the phone most of which the billionaire couldn't distinguish or rather chose not to due to the ear splitting pitch but the gist of the message was loud and clear. Tony Stark was not going to get his way and all the money in the universe was not going to change that.

"Yeah... Well thanks for nothing!"

He slammed the phone down probably with more force than necessary, ran a hand through his hair and swore vehemently under his breath.

He was utterly fucked.

Pepper was going to _kill _him.

And a lot of kids were going to be sorely disappointed.

The billionaire's head fell to his workbench with a spectacular thump and he proceeded to pound it against the metallic surface with vigor and a cloud of despair hanging over him. The one time Pepper had entrusted him with something, correction; something that was important to her and he'd gone and messed up royally. In his defense how was he to know that a large percentage of the cities 'Santa's for hire' would decide to up and leave in the wake of an alien invasion? It still didn't excuse that he should have organized this months ago (he'd been a _little bit _busy saving the world) but it was a moot point now, not that it made him feel any better.

"I know you're all for improvisation Tony but using your head as a hammer is a bit much don't you think?"

The wryly amused voice of the towers latest tenant cut across the pounding of his skull against steel and dark eyes quickly narrowed into a glare. Bruce Banner however looked completely unfazed by the show of animosity, a case of massive desensitization over his many years on the run. The physicist strode forward still looking amused.

"But if you're really serious about this I'm sure I've got something, somewhere that will make the whole process smoother and efficient. Might even help with the inevitable neck ache you seem to cause."

Sarcasm dripped of every word and Tony felt a growl rise in his throat.

"Go to hell Banner."

The other man chuckled slightly before putting on a mock wounded expression and took a seat next to the billionaire.

"That was mean Tony."

"I thought that was your line? And besides I'm a mean person, a bastard, grade 'A' asshole just ask people."

Bruce made a small noise of exasperation and shook his head, lips pulling into a small frown.

"You know that isn't true."

Tony grunted in reply burying his face in his hands. He didn't deal well with failure; it always brought out all the hideous insecurities that were buried deep in his mind.

"Tony... You know that isn't true right?"

Stark shrugged and resisted the urge to start banging his head again, it was only the physical wave of 'disapproval' that was radiating from Bruce that stopped him from doing so. The physicist bristled at the man's melancholic nonchalance he didn't like seeing this side of his friend. He knew that it existed, in fact Ms. Potts had given him a whole seminar on it when he had been coerced into staying for a while but _knowing _and _seeing _were two entirely different ball games. And he felt annoyed and helpless that he didn't really know what to do, he kind of sucked at these 'heart to heart' things.

The Other Guy shared his sentiments, a distant rumble in the back of his mind.

The billionaire remained silent, trying to bore a hole in the floor with his gaze and fall through.

"May as well be, I messed up royally."

Bruce winced; other people's emotions were not something he could really deal with, he had enough trouble dealing with his own. But maybe that was the wrong way to go about this, maybe it was a scientific touch that was needed not an emotional one.

"Okay so you messed up, what's the scenario and variables?"

Tony looked up abruptly the shock evident on his face, most people would have been reassuring and supportive and _completely false_.

But not Banner.

No, he went to the heart of the problem and tried to solve it and by trying to solve it either absolving Tony of his guilt or sharing in it if the somehow failed in their endeavor.

It was so delightfully _sciencey_.

And it was Bruce Banner to an absolute fucking tee.

Stark felt a small smile cross his face and he quickly outlined the situation to his friend, Bruce nodded along suddenly understanding why Tony had felt so down.

"So this 'Orphans Gala' is a big thing to Ms. Potts."

Tony nodded.

"Yeah, she's been organizing it for years. At first it was just a 'good publicity' stunt for the company but over the years Pep has really come to care about it and now I've completely ruined it for her."

Bruce pursed his lips in annoyance, for someone so intrinsically happy and hyper Tony Stark really could be such a mopey, pessimistic bastard sometimes and the irony of that statement did not escape his grasp.

"I wouldn't say so Tony you seem to have forgotten something, something quite important."

A dark brow rose and a smirk quirked at the billionaire's lips.

"And what would that be Dr. Jekyll?"

The physicist's face remained neutral at the nickname and he rolled his eyes.

"Not everyone has to be bought Tony, you have people you could just ask to help you with this. It is the Christmas season after all."

Tony blinked momentarily rendered dumb, he hadn't even contemplated just _asking _someone for a hand. He was so used to doing things on his own and if that failed throwing copious amounts of cash at the problem so that he'd never needed to ask for a hand, at least not with something like this. He was intrigued by the Doctor's hypothesis yet at the same time a little embarrassed that he hadn't come to the conclusion himself. He let out a soft snort for some reason thinking back to the character profile written by Natasha, _Textbook Narcisim, yup she really did have him pegged._

"That Brucey...is… actually a great idea. "

Banner folded his arms across his chest and tried not to look offended.

"Don't look so surprised Stark."

Tony flashed what he hoped was a winning grin and Bruce felt his stomach twist unpleasantly.

"Brrruuuuuce…"

Suddenly realising where the billionaire was going with this the physicist froze on the spot.

"Tony... No..."

The billionaire's grin didn't diminish and he turned on the puppy dog eyes, his voice taking on a childish tone.

"But Brucey, you said I should ask someone and I'm asking you."

"You're kidding me Tony, I'm the worst possible person to ask for this! You know my situation."

Tony gestured wildly with his hands

"A situation you have under control…"

Bruce dropped his gaze, fists clenching and unclenching nervously. While it was true that he hadn't had any unsanctioned incidents since moving in with Tony he wasn't prepared to take this risk and potentially hurt anyone.

"Tony..."

"Bruce..." Tony chirped back at the other man.

Brown eyes flashed with annoyance.

"Be serious Stark! I could hurt someone."

"Ooooooor... You could have a great time, make a lot of little kids happy and save me from a fate worse than death and having nearly died a few times I'd say I know what I'm talking about."

He flung an arm around Bruce's shoulders and flashed a winning grin, the physicist however remained unmoving as if fighting an internal battle. Tony's grin widened as he knew he was beginning to wear the other man down and he waited patiently for the cracks to show in Bruce's armour.

He wasn't waiting long.

"Fine! But I have a few stipulations.."

The billionaire fought down the smugness and nodded.

"Shoot."

Bruce took a deep breath and tried to focus on the point at hand, Tony always managed to derail whatever train of thought he was having with very little effort. Admittedly sometimes, during the dark times, it was useful but more often than not it was a pain in the ass.

"Firstly you will have the Mark 8 on standby. Second I want an evacuation contingency in place."

Tony nodded along.

"Done and done Big Guy, now I have a few stipulations of my own."

Banner frowned and went to protest but Tony cut across him and held a hand up.

"Nuh-uh! You already agreed to help, no backsies."

The physicist rolled his eyes and sighed seriously wanting to ask the _adult _next to him if he really was an adult and not some overgrown child. He refrained though, not wanting to prolong the torture any further and muttered a quick 'fine' under his breath. Tony looked delighted by his compliance and patted his back.

"So... Stipulations. One; Pep's cannot know it's you, if she finds out I messed up I'll never hear the end of it.."

Bruce hid his snort well, knowing that the billionaire's ear would be the least of his concerns if Miss Potts caught wind of this.

"Two; Uh... Okay so maybe there isn't a two maybe I should just reiterate point one? Okay, okay no reiteration. Yeesh Banner you look like the grinch when you pull that face, just less hairy or maybe not..." He prodded Bruce's arm as if to emphasize the point.

"Tony..."

"Yeah Bruce?" Tony replied.

"Shut up."

The billionaire shut his mouth and smirked knowing that he had won this round and with it hopefully the answer to his problems. Now all they had to do was survive.

*IAmALineBreakBecauseICantEdi t*

The day of the gala rolled on and Bruce was starting to regret agreeing to Tony's request. He was nervous, understandably so since he was about to put himself in a less than ideal situation but he _had _promised Tony and there was no time to arrange a substitute even if there had been one. The physicist stared at the lurid suit hanging his wardrobe and took a deep breath to steady himself.

_You're doing this for the kids Banner remember that..._

He hesitantly reached out for the for costume.

Meanwhile one floor up Tony was having a similar bout of nerves but that mainly because Pepper was giving him _that _look, the look that made even hardened agents wet their pants in fear. A heeled foot tapped on the floor as her eyes narrowed at her boss/ boyfriend/ source of constant headaches.

"What aren't you telling me Tony?"

The billionaire put on an innocent face and milked the wounded puppy aura for all it was worth.

"Why Miss Potts what a suspicious mind you have. I'm offended that you would think that I'm lying to you."

A strawberry blonde brow rose.

"I didn't say you were lying, I said you weren't telling me something so stop dodging the question."

"I'm not dodging the question." Tony retorted, grinning slightly.

"And _now _you're lying." Pepper shot back her voice challenging.

"Now my dear Pepper why would I do that?"

Pepper sighed in exasperation knowing that she wasn't going to get any where with Tony when he was in this mood, he'd keep her running around for hours with his evasive manuevers and all she'd end up with is a headache and less information than when she started. No, she'd just let whatever he had planned play out and then laugh unsympathetically when it blew up in his face.

With a shake of her head she headed toward the door and taking it as his cue the billionaire followed, not quite hiding the cheeky smirk on his face.

The main hall of Stark Tower looked spectacular and Bruce had to admit the Pepper had really outdone herself with the decorations, it was a veritable christmas wonderland. Of course he probably would have appreciated the scenery more if he didn't feel like a complete and utter prat but that appeared to be something he couldn't avoid. Mentally swearing that if he survived this then he'd never _ever _agree to Tony's hair-brained schemes again (No matter how well intentioned they were), his sanity was precariously balanced enough as it was. Nervously he tugged on the Santa's outfit that the billionaire had outfitted him with, a habit he had never really been able to break and closed his eyes taking a few breaths to quell the butterflies in his stomach. At the sound of approaching footsteps he opened them to catch sight of one Tony Stark striding toward him a somewhat harried look on his face.

This did not reassure Bruce in the slightest.

"Hey Brucey buddy, you ready to go?" Tony asked flashing a lopsided smile.

"If you mean am I ready to put my pride, dignity and mental stability on the line then sure I am."

The billionaire laughed and patted the other man on the shoulder.

"My, my, hasn't some one been at the Am. Dram. Today?"

"Says the drama queen." Bruce retorted wrly.

Tony continued to laugh and he bowed with a dramatic flourish.

"Your audience awaits my friend."

The two men walked (well Tony walked, Bruce kind of waddled) out onto the dance floor and the physicist felt his breath catch in his throat, there were a _lot _of children running around. Tony smirked as he cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed at the top of his voice.

"Santa's heeeeere!"

_For the love of god Tony can you not do subtle?_

There was silence for a second and then the shrieks of the children echoed through the hall and there was a stampede of feet as they converged on Bruce. He had just enough time to shoot Stark a death glare before the first child practically threw themselves into his lap, wide eyed and full of enthusiasm. Bruce couldn't help but smile and helped the child into a more comfortable position, noticeably relaxing.

"So what would you like for christmas?"

The little girl grinned up at him eyes full of wonder.

Tony managed to slink off in the chaos and found Pepper in one of the many alcoves watching the fun with an amused smile on her face. The billionaire sauntered over and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend.

"Bruce appears to be enjoying himself." Pepper commented lightly and Tony froze.

"I don't know..."

The red head laughed lightly cutting across Stark's inevitable denial.

"Cut the BS Tony, I take it _this _is what you weren't telling me."

It wasn't often that Tony Stark was at a loss for words.

"Um..."

Pepper laughed again and patted the top of the hand resting on her waist.

"Stop thinking so hard, I'm not mad... He's better than any of the hired Santa's we've had previously. No, I'm actually more surprized Bruce let you coerce him into helping."

Tony relaxed slightly.

"Would you believe me if I said it was his idea?"

"No." Pepper said with finality.

"Didn't think so, worth a shot though I guess but for the record it kinda was his idea. I just took it in a slightly different context."

The two of them watched with amusement as the kids swarmed around 'Santa' and he handed out gifts with a genuine enthusiasm and compassion that had the children clamouring for more.

Bruce took a deep breath as the seemingly unending stream of children slowly came to halt. The last two kids who couldn't have been more than six or seven bounded up with identical looks of glee on their twinned faces and they practically pounced upon the physicist. He forced down the knee-jerk reaction and smiled sweetly at the two of them.

"So boys, what do you want for Christmas?"

The twins flashed wide grins.

"We wanna be Avengers!"

Bruce couldn't quite hide the chuckle and he raised a brow.

"Avengers?"

The first twin exploded in excitement.

"Yeah! They're the coolest! They kick butt!"

"Michael! Language!" The orphanage overseer cut in frowning disapprovingly.

Michael stuck his tongue out and continued rambling. Bruce smiled to himself suddenly wondering if this was what his erstwhile friend had been like as a child.

"I know Mr. Stark's one of them but he isn't the coolest, I know you agree with me on this Jamey."

The quieter of the twins nodded and the physicist couldn't help but be a little intrigued, if only to rub it in Tony's face that not everyone thought that he was the greatest. His neglected inner child rubbed his hands together in glee.

"So who is the coolest?" He asked.

He was honestly expecting them to say Steve (and wouldn't that get Stark's goat) or Thor (you just couldn't _not _like the guy), however what came from the twins mouth was not what he expected.

"Hulk!" Michael practically screeched.

Jamey nodded his assent.

"He's big and strong and no one messes with him and even though he looks all scary you know he's good coz he saved people like Mr. Stark, he only scares the bad guys."

Bruce felt something in his heart twist at the empassioned words and to use an exceedingly cliche'd image (on more than one level) he felt like the Grinch after his heart had tripled in size. Warmth flowed through his body and his extremeties began to tingle, although that could have been the weight of the children in his lap. There was a grumble of approval in the back of Bruce's mind almost as if to say 'see not everyone is scared of me.' and for once the physicist couldn't find it in him to refute it, not that he really could, the evidence was right in front of him.

"You okay Santa?" Jamey's timid voice asked.

"I... Er yes." He let out a strained laugh "Would you believe that you just gave me a Christmas gift?"

The two boys looked baffled at the question and Bruce thought that show and tell would be a better avenue to explore. He raised his finger to his lips and closed his eyes calling the Hulk forward just a tiny bit. He heard the gasp from the two boys and when he opened his eyes he could see the ring of green surrounding them but his inner monster was not pushing for control. The Hulk was happy to just bask and enjoy this very rare moment of acceptance both from the twins and Banner himself.

"Holy Shit! You're..." Michael sqwarked practically radiating with glee.

"Mikey shut up!" Jamey retorted, punching his brother in the arm.

"Ow Jamey! But didya see... Ow!... He turned... OW!... Jamey quit hitting me."

The quieter twin didn't stop until his brother shut his mouth and glared at the floor, eventually he turned to Bruce a shy awkward smile on his face.

"Um... Sorry about him, his mouth takes over his brain sometimes and he doesn't get the idea of secrets."

Bruce laughed loudly at the comment much to the mutinous grumblings of Michael.

"You would _not _believe how used to that I am kiddo."

He shot a not very subtle look in Tony's direction and Jamey caught the gaze and grinned.

It was a this point the overseer stepped in and told the boys their time was up. They grumbled and reluctantly left, not before receiving a gift and leaving Bruce alone with his thoughts. When he'd agreed to helping Tony he hadn't been expecting to be gifted himself, he'd just wanted to help his friend.

And speaking of the illustrious Mr. Stark.

Tony was walking over drink in hand with a smiling Pepper in tow and a wide grin on his face. Remembering that Pepper wasn't supposed to know that it was him he stood up a little straighter and tried to seem less _him_.

"Relax Brucey, she knows."

The red head giggled and stepped forward extending her hand, Bruce reluctantly excepted it.

"Tony explained what happend, I... We owe you our gratitude."

She none to stealthly elbowed the billionaire in the side and Tony shrugged grin still firmly affixed to his face. Banner gave a brief smile and offered a shrug of his own the silent communication understood.

"It's not a problem Miss Potts. I was happy to help after all you and Tony have done it was the least I could do and besides..." Here he shot the pair a mischevious smirk "I got an early Christmas present."

"And what was that?" Pepper asked genuinely curious.

Bruce offered a cheeky wink "Proof that Tony Stark isn't the center of the universe."

Pepper's outburst of laughter and Tony's impressive spit take were music to Bruce's ears and in the back of his mind he thought he heard a snort of amusement.

Merry Christmas indeed.

~End~

A/N: Fiiiiiiinnnniiiissshed! Apologies if it sort of sucks halfway through, I was writing this at 4am and then through a rage fit to rival the Hulk's. (Work pissed me off)

Excuses aside let us know what you think.

Pretty Pwease... It'll make my Christmas.


End file.
